January, 2018

• 20 January

  Oman plans $1 bn infrastructure fund

  Reuters Oman’s sovereign wealth fund is planning to start a $1 billion infrastructure fund to boost investment in projects including the Gulf state’s road, transport and energy systems, according to people familiar with the matter. The State General Reserve Fund is talking to international banks and potential investors for the financing, the people said, asking not to be identified because ...

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• 20 January

  US shutdown begins as Senate fails to pass GOP funding bill

  

  Bloomberg The US government officially entered a partial shutdown on Saturday as Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans blocked a bill to fund the government after the two parties failed to break their deadlock over immigration. The shutdown began one year from the day President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Trump and his aides were typically defiant, with his press ...

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• 20 January

  S Korea seeks North reason for cancelling advance team visit

  Bloomberg South Korea has officially asked North Korea to explain why it cancelled dispatching an advance team to the South to prepare for concerts during the yeongchang Winter Olympics, according to Yonhap. Pyongyang suddenly withdrew an earlier offer to send an advance team over the weekend to South Korea to check performance venues. The team, led by Hyon Song Wol, ...

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• 20 January

  US plans Israel embassy move as early as 2019

  Bloomberg The Trump administration accelerated its timetable for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, weighing a plan to retrofit the existing consulate there by the end of 2019 in order to fulfill a key campaign pledge by the president. Building a new embassy would have taken too long and is “cost-prohibitive” so “we’re going to retrofit an existing facility,” Steve ...

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• 20 January

  Merkel coalition on the line as German SPD votes to talk or walk

  

  Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition plans face a make-or-break vote this weekend as the Social Democrats decide whether to help usher in her fourth term or walk away from government and risk pushing Europe’s biggest economy further into political uncertainty. Germany’s oldest political party is split over its future direction, and those divisions will play out at a national convention ...

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• 20 January

  ANC agrees on Zuma’s exit as South African president

  

  Bloomberg The leadership of South Africa’s ruling party decided that President Jacob Zuma must leave office but didn’t set a time-frame for his exit, according to six senior party officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The newly-elected top six leaders of the party will manage the transition that will concentrate power in the hands of his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, ...

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• 20 January

  Iran N-deal cannot survive if US pulls out, says Russia’s Lavrov

  UNITED NATIONS / Reuters Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Iran nuclear deal cannot survive if the United States pulls out of the agreement. US President Donald Trump said a week ago that European allies and Congress have to work with him to fix “the disastrous flaws” in the nuclear pact or face a US exit. Trump wants it ...

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• 20 January

  The expanding millionaire class of the United States

  

  Call them the new millionaires. Once upon a time — certainly within living memory — becoming a millionaire was a big deal. It was a badge of economic distinction, enjoyed by a tiny elite. No more. By 2016, slightly more than 9 million US households had a net worth of $1 million or more, according to new calculations by economist ...

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• 20 January

  Time for Facebook to unfriend iconic thumbs-up symbol

  

  Everyone is still trying to sort out the implications of Facebook Inc.’s news feed reboot announced last week. One thing I’m wondering about: Why hasn’t Facebook taken the hatchet to the “like” button? Mark Zuckerberg says he wants more “meaningful social interactions” on Facebook. He doesn’t want people to spend so much time scrolling around aimlessly on Facebook or otherwise ...

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• 20 January

  Don’t freak out about UK’s vanishing banking jobs

  

  It’s ‘seismic.’ At first glance, last month’s 52 percent decline in the number of job openings in London’s financial industry looks dramatic. In Brexit there’s an easy bogeyman to blame. But the picture isn’t so clear. Take the survey that recruiting firm Morgan McKinley, from which that figure comes. You need to adjust it for seasonality: December is never a ...

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